{"paper":{"title":"Markov Blanket Density and Free Energy Minimization","license":"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/","headline":"","cross_cats":["cs.IT","math.IT"],"primary_cat":"q-bio.NC","authors_text":"Luca M. Possati","submitted_at":"2025-06-06T06:39:46Z","abstract_excerpt":"This paper presents a continuous, information-theoretic extension of the Free Energy Principle through the concept of Markov blanket density, i.e., a scalar field that quantifies the degree of conditional independence between internal and external states at each point in space (ranging from 0 for full coupling to 1 for full separation). It demonstrates that active inference dynamics, including the minimization of variational and expected free energy, naturally emerge from spatial gradients in this density, making Markov blanket density a necessary foundation for the Free Energy Principle. Thes"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"2506.05794","kind":"arxiv","version":5},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"integrity":{"clean":true,"summary":{"advisory":0,"critical":0,"by_detector":{},"informational":0},"endpoint":"/pith/2506.05794/integrity.json","findings":[],"available":true,"detectors_run":[],"snapshot_sha256":"c28c3603d3b5d939e8dc4c7e95fa8dfce3d595e45f758748cecf8e644a296938"},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}